


Usagi's Mission

by Dawnlight6



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon
Genre: F/F, Friendship, Humor, Romance, Sailor Moon S
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-31
Updated: 2010-10-31
Packaged: 2018-03-11 07:57:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3319910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dawnlight6/pseuds/Dawnlight6
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Usagi decides she has to know.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Mission

"It's no good!" Usagi exclaimed in a frustrated voice, slamming her half-finished soda down on the desk and causing fizzy liquid to slosh all over her maths homework. "I have to  _know_!"

"Know what, Usagi-chan?" Ami asked patiently, her head still buried in the advanced problems she'd set herself for no reason that Usagi could see besides, possibly, being an unbalanced masochist.

Usagi blinked. "Whether Haruka-san and Michiru-san are together, of course."

"Does it matter?" said Ami, still obviously concentrating more on the maths than on Usagi.

"Of course it matters," Usagi snapped. "I'm the Moon Princess and they are my soldiers and I need to know these things!"

"Why?"

"Why? Because, because…" Usagi stalled, unable to think of anything besides her own curiosity. "Well, because of Setsuna-san for one thing."

"Setsuna-san? How does she fit into it?"

Usagi crossed her arms. "I don't know. That's just it. How does she fit into their relationship?"

Ami at last looked up from her homework, a blush staining her cheeks. "You're not suggesting that the three of them…"

"I don't know," said Usagi. "That's the point. And – with things being the way they are now, can we really afford not to know what's going on? Can we afford to have a rift develop between the Outer Senshi because of a twisted love triangle? I've heard about these open relationships before, and they never end well. Someone always ends up getting hurt. So, it is our duty to discover the truth and take whatever steps are necessary in order to ensure that everyone stays friends and keeps fighting."

"That logic almost makes sense, Usagi-chan, but I still think you're just trying to justify your own nosiness."

"Fine." Usagi surged to her feet. "If you won't help me, I'll go and find someone who will! Minako-chan will get it. And Mako-chan. And Rei-chan. They understand the importance of matters of the heart. And, since you don't care so much, we won't even tell you what we find out, so there!"

With a final fling of her pigtails, Usagi turned and stormed out of Ami's room, and not long after, Ami heard the door of her apartment being wrenched open and then slammed shut again. An almost unnatural silence followed the tumultuous departure, when it was so still Ami could hear the ticking of the clock in the living room and the happy burbling bubbles that her fish were blowing in their fish tank. She broke the stillness with a sigh and put her pencil down, looking up from her maths homework and allowing her eyes to drift over to the window, staring out at the familiar city skyline with a troubled expression as she thought about what had just happened.

It wasn't that Ami was angry over the outburst; she understood Usagi too well for that, but she was worried about her. It was only two days since the Marine Cathedral, and Ami knew that her own memory of the sick fear she'd felt when she'd seen Haruka and Michiru's bodies was only a fraction of what Usagi was feeling about it.

More than any of the rest of them, Usagi over the past several months had kept on tirelessly trying to break down the distance and reserve of the two Outer Soldiers, defending them when others criticised, believing in the them when others did not. Some, those who knew Usagi less well than her friends did, would have called it naivety, but Ami knew better than that.

What Usagi felt for Haruka and Michiru was what she felt for all of them – kinship, love, and, though she thought she hid it well, responsibility. Usagi was the one who held them all together. She was the one they loved, she was the one they believed in. She was the one they would die protecting if they had to, and Usagi knew that. Ami thought it must be awful for her sometimes, knowing the people she loved most were most endangered precisely because of the strength of their feelings for her. The burden, the guilt, that went with such a position must at times be almost unbearable, but Usagi bore it, and did the only thing she could. She loved them. She loved them all.

Two days ago, Haruka and Michiru had laid down their lives in the line of duty, to fulfil their mission, to save the world, and this, Usagi's sudden determination to find out about them and understand their lives, this was her response to that. Haruka and Michiru didn't believe in Usagi's power, not yet, but Usagi believed in them. Usagi would keep on believing in them, and helping them, whether they wanted it or not, because she knew the cost of being a soldier, and she wouldn't let them bear it alone.

* * *

Ami wasn't surprised when four very disheartened soldiers and two disapproving cats all turned up at her apartment about five o'clock that evening. She didn't mind. Her mother was working late again at the hospital, and it was lonely being by herself all the time. She ushered her friends into the living room and raided the kitchen for an assortment of snacks and refreshments before joining them to listen to what she guessed was going to be a long, sorry story of failure.

"We came up with a plan," Usagi explained, methodically loading up her plate up with food, "but it didn't work."

"Plan?" inquired Ami innocently.

"Yes," said Usagi, sounding a little put out. "A plan to find out what Haruka-san and Michiru-san mean to each other, and how Setsuna-san fits in. Don't you remember what we were talking about earlier today?"

"I do," Ami admitted. Frowning slightly as she thought of something, she momentarily looked away from Usagi to address the two cats. "What about you and Artemis, Luna? Surely the two of you must know something about the Outer Senshi?"

"No, we don't," said Luna. "During the time of the Silver Millennium, the Outer Soldiers were only legends. Neither Artemis or I ever even saw them, or were certain of their existence. The Queen set them apart, to guard from afar, and I suppose she was the one who knew them best, if anyone did. But that knowledge is long lost to us now."

Ami sighed. "A pity," she murmured, referring as much to the lonely destiny of the Outers as the cats' lack of information. She glanced once more at Usagi. "So, what did you try?"

All four girls looked very guilty.

"Oh dear," said Ami, "was it that bad?"

"No, not really," Rei chimed in, a little defensively. "It's just that…" The four exchanged a moment of wordless communication.

"We don't think you'll approve," Minako muttered.

"Just tell me," said Ami, settling more comfortably into her spot on the couch next to Makoto.

Usagi, obviously eager to share her story, didn't need any further prompting. "Well," she began authoritatively, "we decided that if Haruka-san and Michiru-san really are a couple, then they'd get jealous if anyone else was interested in either of them, so we…um…got one of Mamo-chan's friends they haven't met to flirt with Michiru-san."

"A boy or a girl?" asked Ami.

"Eh?" All four stared at her.

"What do you mean?" said Rei. "A boy of course."

"That was your first mistake then," said Ami calmly. "If Michiru-san is with Haruka-san, that means she likes girls. Surely you should have found a girl to—"

"But Haruka-san looks like a boy," interrupted Usagi, blinking wide blue eyes.

"And yet," said Ami, before stopping with a blush as she tried to think of how to phrase her next statement. "Well, I'm sure that Michiru-san has noticed that Haruka-san is a girl," she finally finished.

The others stared at her, obviously not knowing what she meant.

"Eh?" said Usagi.

Ami's blush deepened. "Well, if they're together, they must kiss and – and – so on, so presumably Michiru-san likes doing that sort of thing with other girls, and thus, sending a boy after her when both she and Haruka-san know perfectly well that she wouldn't be interested on account of him being the wrong gender doesn't seem a very effective way to cause jealousy."

The others stared at Ami in dumbfounded silence.

"But anyway," said Ami hurriedly, "tell me what happened."

"Well," Usagi continued, "we sent Mamo-chan's friend, Peter-san—"

"Peter…San?"

"Named after a character in some English children's book his parents like. They're a little eccentric."

"Ah."

"We sent Peter-san along to flirt with Michiru, but of course she was with Haruka, and he had to trail them all over town for two hours before they finally separated. Eventually though, Michiru-san went into a music shop and Haruka-san drove off in her car, so Peter-san walked into the music shop—"

"And so did all of you, no doubt," said Ami.

"Well of course," said Usagi, quite matter-of-factly, while Ami shook her head, thinking that two people as smart as Haruka and Michiru could hardly have failed to notice after two hours that they were being trailed.

"Anyway," said Usagi. "Michiru-san was buying some new violin strings, and as she was leaving, Peter-san went up and talked to her. He asked her if she was Kaioh Michiru, the violinist, and she said yes, and he said he loved her music and had all her CDs."

"Because," added Minako, "we figured every girl loves to be complimented."

"Go on," said Ami.

"Well, Michiru-san walked out of the store and Peter-san followed her and asked her if she was doing anything and would she like to go and have something to drink with him in a café so they could talk about music. Michiru-san said no, she couldn't, she was waiting for someone. Peter-san said 'maybe later?' but Michiru-san said she was busy. By this time, he was getting a bit desperate, because he could see Haruka-san coming back in her car, so he decided to try a more direct approach. He said—"

"Yes?" asked Ami, quite drawn into the story by this time and annoyed when Usagi suddenly paused.

"Understand," interjected Rei, "that if we'd known Peter-san was going to do this last bit, we never would have allowed him to approach Michiru-san. We don't approve of what he did at all."

"What did he do?" said Ami, having an inkling of where this was going.

Usagi, however, wouldn't continue, only going red and twisting her hands in her lap.

"Urgh, fine, I'll tell her," said Minako impatiently. She looked at Ami. "He told Michiru-san that he'd heard she and Haruka were an item, and asked if they'd both be interested in…er…having some fun with him."

"What happened next?"

"Michiru-san turned to face him, very swiftly, and kneed him…somewhere very painful."

Ami winced.

"That was about the time Haruka-san was pulling up to the pavement. She looked at Peter-san, and then at Michiru-san and asked her if everything was all right. Michiru-san said it was, quite calmly, and Haruka-san said okay then, and Michiru-san got into the car and they drove away together."

"It was so scary," said Makoto. "Michiru-san always has an aura of calm and grace, even when she fights. I didn't expect she'd be able to do something so violent, and so quickly. And then afterwards, she just went straight back to normal, like nothing happened." She shivered. "I really hope they're not our enemies. I wouldn't want to be in a serious fight against them."

"None of this is good at all," said Ami, looking severely at her friends. "Not only did you choose an idea that was never going to work, but you were probably far too obvious. I'm sure Haruka-san and Michiru-san knew they were being trailed long before Peter-san approached them. They might also have seen you, in which case they have most likely guessed that you want to find out more about them, and will be doubly on their guard now."

"So, what do we do?" asked Usagi miserably.

Ami thought. "I think I have an idea," she said.


	2. The Plan

Ami knew she wasn't the strongest of the Inner Senshi. She didn't have Jupiter's physical prowess, she didn't have extra perception like Mars, she didn't have the confidence to unite them all when they needed it like Venus. If anything, she was the weakest of the four, and that bothered her sometimes. She was always afraid that in battle she was more of a liability than an asset, though she knew her friends were too kind to judge her in that way.

But still, even if her friends sometimes resisted their obligation to think with the hard, unyielding heads of soldiers, Ami couldn't allow herself that luxury. She didn't want to be the reason, today or tomorrow or ten years from now, that the Inner Senshi failed in their duty to protect this world, and so she made up for her shortcomings by using the one ability she did possess – her brain. When it came down to brute force, Sailor Mercury was never going to win, but give her a little time and she would always come up with a battle strategy that would be sure to outwit their enemies and carry the day.

This though was perhaps the most daunting task she had set herself yet; to best Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune, two of the most powerful senshi in the Solar System, and in their civilian forms, two of the smartest and most sophisticated young ladies in Japan. She decided that instead of being intimidated the best approach was to abstract her emotions and examine the problem logically, dispassionately, as she would a particularly difficult question in an exam. And in this way, quietly, without fuss, she rose to the challenge before her and constructed a plan that wanted for neither cleverness nor ambition. In fact, so ambitious was her plan that when she told Usagi and the others, she was met not with gasps of wonder but with blinking hesitation and uncertain sounds of distress.

"Do you really think…we could pull that off?" asked Makoto.

"Of course we can," said Ami, forcing her voice to sound more confident than she felt. "As long as the Outer Soldiers do what I think they will…"

"And what if they don't?" said Rei, her voice going a little shrill. "There'll be nothing left of us but stains in the dirt!"

"That won't happen. As long as we move fast enough we'll be fine."

"You expect us to be able to move faster than  _Haruka_?"

"No," said Ami, beginning to get irritated. "Fast enough in the small margin of time we'll have while Haruka is—"

Makoto interrupted before Ami could finish. "Rei's right, Ami. You're counting on certain people doing things that you can't guarantee. It's too big a risk."

"There is always risk in battle," Ami pointed out. "And taking everything into account, I think this risk is acceptable. Look on it as a training exercise," she added when Makoto and Rei still appeared doubtful. "A chance to improve our teamwork and our reflexes."

"But if we fail—"

"We won't fail," said Ami. "We've used the Sailor Planet Attack successfully many times since we first met."

"Well I think it's a wonderful idea," Minako chimed in, love hearts bulging from her eyes as she clasped her hands together in girlish ecstasy. "It will be so romantic! Usagi-chan, what do you think? Usagi-chan?" she repeated, when there was no answer.

Usagi, who had been staring into space with a pensive expression, came to with a start and focused on her friends. "It…I don't think it will work," she said, her voice uncharacteristically soft. "It's a good idea Ami-chan, really it is, but…Uranus and Neptune made a promise not to help each other when they're in trouble. They swore to each other they'd place finding the talismans first."

"But…They have those now, don't they?" said Rei. "Now they're looking for the Messiah."

Her eyes sad, Usagi shrugged. "They still probably have the same promise in place. They think they have to fight like that…Alone, unsupported, hurting all the time. But I don't want anyone to be hurt because of me! I want all of us to be friends and to understand each other! Why can't it be like that?" Lip wobbling, she cast an angry, appealing gaze at her four friends as if they held the answers she sought and were withholding them from her purely out of spite.

Rei, Makoto and Minako, not having seen Usagi's earlier outburst, all looked at her in surprise, not guessing, as Ami did, the reason for her behaviour.

"If anyone has a better plan," said Ami, "I'm perfectly willing to listen."

Four pairs of eyes turned to her in horror.

"It's a great idea," said Makoto quickly.

"Best plan ever," agreed Rei.

"I always liked it," said Minako in a slightly smug voice as she glanced sidelong at Makoto and Rei.

They all looked at Usagi.

"I guess," she said, "I guess we can try."


	3. The Execution

Ami covertly monitored their intended target for two weeks before she felt she was sufficiently prepared to put her plan into action. It was true, what Makoto said; Michiru had a calm, serious focus in battle that in some ways was even more terrifying than Haruka's raw power or Setsuna's aura of ancient wisdom, but Ami still thought that of the three of them, she was the one they had the greatest chance of capturing, particularly in her civilian form.

The obvious difficulty was that, even if she wasn't as physically strong as her two companion Outer soldiers, she did have highly developed mental abilities that could mean she might well sense the intended attack against her before Ami and the others even had a chance to execute it. Hence, as Ami kept reminding everybody with great nervousness as they prepared to assail the aqua haired senshi of the sea, it was of the utmost importance that they move quickly and efficiently, acting as one highly focused unit of power, giving Michiru no time to react, no time to transform into Sailor Neptune, no time to, as Rei had so delicately put it, turn them all into stains in the dirt. Ami wasn't sure whether Michiru would be able to see through their disguises or not, but that didn't really matter. She wasn't the one they were trying to fool, after all, it was Haruka and Setsuna who had to believe that Michiru really had been kidnapped by the enemy.

Ami's most serious concern had been whether or not the Transformation Pens that Minako and Usagi possessed would work to disguise them all, but luckily there had been no difficulties there. It was with some pride that Ami surveyed the results of the chosen transmogrification, thinking that, even if she was a genius, this time she really had outdone herself.

All five of them looked terrifying, resembling huge, distorted worms with flesh as red as fresh killed meat. Their bodies were strong enough that they could rear up on their tails if they wished, the shortest of them still at least twelve foot tall, and each was in possession of at least a dozen muscular tentacles and round maws at their heads filled with horrible razors of teeth. These fearsome creatures, Ami had discovered, were the sort of enemy Haruka and Michiru had first faced together, a type of daimon made not from inanimate objects like those the Inner soldiers had fought, but actual possessed human beings corrupted into monsters. Ami hoped that seeing these former foes once again might assist in disrupting the composure of the normally self-possessed Outers, at least a little bit.

It was late on a Monday afternoon, and the group of apparent monsters were attempting to conceal themselves in a leafy park near Mugen Gakuen; a task trickier than it sounded since the shrubbery hadn't really been designed with the needs of overgrown supernatural science experiments in mind. But dedicating themselves to their cause, the senshi squashed their giant worm bodies into the heart of a particularly large bush and waited. Any moment now Michiru should be walking through this park on her way to meet Haruka after her weekly practice with the Mugen school orchestra, and why Michiru always met Haruka on the outskirts of the park and not at the school gate Ami didn't know, but that was definitely the established routine.

(In fact, Ami had been rather irked not to be able to discover the reason for this rather peculiar arrangement. She might have felt better if she'd known that Haruka didn't know either why Michiru always wanted to be picked up from the park and put it down to one of those unfathomable quirks that partners sometimes possessed. Actually, it was because Michiru enjoyed the caresses of the wind that Haruka always unconsciously sent to meet her, feather-light and torturous delight on a body already humming with the sensuality of music, and it was probable that one of these Mondays the two of them wouldn't even make it home before Michiru felt the need to fully express the combined over-stimulation these two most potent of forces caused within her, but Haruka hadn't yet realised the part she herself played in Michiru's amorous Monday behaviour, assuming it was just the music, which, while not wrong, wasn't entirely right either).

Regardless of the reason for it, however, this reliable habit gave Ami and the others the perfect opportunity they needed, and so the plan was to capture the violinist as quickly and efficiently as possible as she crossed the park, giving Haruka just enough time to see what happened, but certainly not enough to transform and join the fray.

Peering out cautiously from behind her screen of branches, Ami could see that Haruka had already pulled up in her customary place on the far side of the park, but there was no sign of Michiru yet. In fact, she was late, and already the purple shadows of twilight were descending when Ami at last caught sight of her, tripping along one of the park's white gravel paths with a dreamy smile on her face while a light breeze played with the aquamarine locks of her hair. Michiru moved lightly, holding her violin case in one hand and her school satchel in the other, and the scene was so ordinary, so clearly part of a well-worn ritual that ended in the same way every week, with smiles and soft greetings and cheeks flushed to the colour of roses, that Ami felt a twinge of guilt at the violent disruption she and her friends were about to cause.

But there really was no other way to learn about their excessively reserved colleagues, and so Ami pushed her doubts away and hissed, as clearly as she could through her uncomfortable mouthful of fangs, "here she comes."

The other daimon-soldiers snapped to attention, and one of them, Ami thought perhaps Sailor Moon, said, "what do we do now?"

Ami rolled her eyes, giving the brief and frightening impression of an out-of-control daimon about to go berserk, and said, "we power up, of course."

"Right!"

They closed their eyes and took each other's tentacles, forming a circle. For one heart-stopping instant, nothing happened, and with a sick feeling in her gut, it occurred to Ami that they might not have access to their senshi powers whilst disguised like this. Whether the others noticed she wasn't sure, but it was almost like their abilities tried to resist them at first, until, with a faint pop not unlike the stopper coming out of a bottle, Ami felt the familiar ice-blue energy beginning to flow through her. Building, growing stronger, twining itself with four sister streams of colour into an ancient pattern of power that had been old long before this world was born, until every muscle in Ami's body was screaming with strain as she attempted to hold back the ready attack.

"Now!" she managed to gasp, and leaping from concealment, the five daimon-soldiers reared up before the rigid figure of Michiru, shouting, through an unseemly number of fangs that luckily distorted the words beyond understanding, "SAILOR PLANET ATTACK!"

Perhaps Michiru had been concentrating too much on the wind playing with her hair, perhaps it was merely that she had sensed no threat from the build up of a power so closely allied with her own, but either way, the attack apparently caught her completely unawares, and, with a pack of five deadly daimons converging on her, Michiru only had a split second in which to make the crucial decision on which hinged the entire success of Ami's plan; whether to save herself, or to save her violin. She chose as Ami had counted on her choosing. She chose the violin.

With the massive ball of energy approaching her, Michiru, instead of leaping out of the way, tossed her violin case into the air in a graceful arc, aiming for a soft thicket of bushes where it landed safely, as she just had time to see with a slight smile of relief before she was blasted off her feet and into unconsciousness by the daimon-senshi attack.

"Michiru!" Haruka's desperate cry had torn through the falling darkness the moment she saw the daimons appear, and vaulting out of her car without even pausing to open the door, she began to sprint towards the pack of daimons. But here again Ami's ability to foresee the reactions of her foes carried the day, for as Michiru launched her violin out of her hands, Haruka was so dumbfounded at the suicidal act that all she could do was stop and stare in disbelief at the violin's trajectory, giving the disguised senshi the few precious seconds they needed to hustle the unconscious Michiru into their strategically placed thicket where Ami heaved a sigh of relief and injected her with a pre-prepared sedative.

"Okay everyone," Ami said, raising her eyes to her fellow soldiers. "Time to execute Part Two."

A short time later, five senshi, breathless as if they had just been running and minus their daimon disguises, joined the stricken figure of Haruka who was merely standing in the park, still untransformed, clutching Michiu's violin case tightly to her chest.

"Haruka-san!" gasped Sailor Moon.

Haruka turned to her with blank eyes that did not seem to take her presence in.

"We felt a surge of dark energy," said Mars shamelessly. "We came as fast as we could, but—"

"We saw a pack of daimons carrying Michiru-san away," said Jupiter. "They were heading into the heart of the city."

"We chased them, but we couldn't keep up," said Mercury, finishing the story. "We lost them somewhere near the Juuban shopping district…"

She trailed off, but still Haruka didn't speak. A savage wind lashed the trees above them, their branches creaking and moaning in distress, and, very briefly, Haruka closed her eyes and rested her chin on the violin in her arms, cradling it as she would a dear friend. It seemed so uncharacteristic a gesture that it made Ami blink in surprise, and then she almost wondered if she'd imagined the whole thing, for the next time she looked Haruka was sliding the case from her chest to catch its handle with her left hand while her right formed into a fist.

"The enemy is going to regret this," she finally said in a low, dangerous voice that sent a little shiver of fear down Ami's spine.

"We can help you find her—" Moon began.

"No!" Eyes glinting cold as blue steel in the harsh electric glare of the lights just beginning to flicker on around them, Haruka cut Moon off. "I don't need your help. I'll find Michiru faster by myself. All of you just stay out of it." The angry intensity of that gaze made Ami want to quail, but there was only gentle sympathy in Moon's steady blue eyes.

"Haruka-san," she whispered.

"Leave me alone!" the tall blonde rasped, the air about her almost crackling with her anger. She raked her eyes warningly over the younger girls one last time, wordlessly forbidding further kindness, before turning and stalking away, her back straight and proud.

With the wind tearing at her hair, Ami watched with her friends as Haruka approached her car alone, noted the care with which she placed the violin on the back seat, and the violence with which she flung herself behind the wheel. As she revved the engine and streaked away at a speed that surely wasn't legal, Ami sagged a little in relief and turned to her fellow senshi.

"Well," she said, "I think we can count our plan a success."


	4. The Arguments

Using the Sailor Teleport in a way they never had before, the five Inner senshi transported themselves as well as the unconscious Michiru back to Ami's apartment, where Ami carefully laid her down on the most comfortable sofa in the living room and checked her vitals.

Usagi, Makoto, Rei and Minako, elated at their victory, were already celebrating with the fruits of a raid on Ami's kitchen cupboard, all talking at the top of their lungs and not listening to a word anyone else was saying. Ami, heroine of the hour, should have been prouder than any of them, but she wasn't. She kept on seeing in her mind's eye that half-glimpsed image of Haruka forlornly embracing Michiru's violin, fear and loneliness stark on her face for one unguarded moment, and somewhere inside Ami something clenched in painful sympathy while the uneasy stirrings of her conscience told her that what they were doing simply wasn't right.

"Everyone," she said quietly. Her voice was drowned in the general din. "EVERYONE!" she repeated, not yelling, but in a voice loud and firm enough that her four friends stopped and stared at her in surprise, taken aback by her uncharacteristic assertiveness.

"What?" asked Usagi, cocking her head.

"We have to stop this," Ami said. "What we're doing, it isn't right. We should return Michiru-san to her apartment and leave the Outers alone."

"After everything we went through?" said Rei incredulously.

"We can't just go around kidnapping people to find out what their friends' reactions will be. It's too cruel."

"But…we already did," Makoto pointed out.

"Yes, we did, and it was a mistake, and we should undo it."

"Ami-chan, you're worrying too much," said Minako bossily. "If we stop now, all our hard work will have been in vain! Don't forget, even if we have captured Michiru-san, we still haven't achieved our true objective. We still have to see how Haruka-san and Setsuna-san react when we make the phone call. Which of them saves her once they know the cost will tell us the true state of their hearts."

"What if neither of them save her?" asked Usagi.

"Then neither of them loves her," said Minako confidently.

"And if they both do?"

"Then they're both in love with her, obviously."

"I'm really not sure about this anymore," Ami repeated tentatively.

"Oh hush," said Minako, as she reached again for the Transformation pen. A dreamy smile crept across her face like the slow descent of a madman's happy delusion. "We're  _going_  to do it, and it's  _going_  to be beautiful."

* * *

This was a nightmare, Haruka was sure. This was the trial she had already endured, that had already taken her heart, her blood, her life. But when she returned home late that night after a fruitless search for Michiru, there it was. The red eye of the answering machine winking at her in indifferent insistence, waiting to spill an apocalypse into what was left of one soldier's fragile, tattered world.

It could be anyone, Haruka told herself, any one of a great number of people wanting to talk to herself or Michiru; they were elite celebrities after all, but she knew in her heart that the caller wasn't any of them. No, everything in her senshi being told Haruka that the author of that phone call was one arrogant redhead who handled guns with deadly efficiency and loved to inflict mental injury almost as much as physical wounds.

Eudial, the first of the Witches Five.

True, Haruka hadn't seen her since the Marine Cathedral, her place on the front line apparently taken by an orange haired ditz so flaky she made Minkao look like a Rhodes scholar, but that was no reason to be complacent. After such a crushing defeat, Eudial would want revenge, and quickly, and Haruka was afraid – very afraid – that she'd found a way to take it.

With a finger that trembled slightly, Haruka pressed the play button on the machine.

Released, a high, taunting voice drifted into the air, seeming to bring with it a poison that made it suddenly hard to breathe. "Tenoh Haruka?" asked the speaker with an arrogant laugh. "I'm afraid that our last encounter didn't go quite as I hoped, but I am ready for a rematch if you are. You already know I have your partner. Would you like to know what I'm going to do to her? I assure you it will be very painful.

"I have found a way to access the abilities of those with minds like hers. I can induce her visions, bring them on one after another, make her show me all the secrets she possesses. The more she resists me, the faster her brain will be destroyed. And she will resist, I know she will. Because I am searching within her for the identity of the Dark Messiah, and she will not want to let me see that.

"There is a way I could be persuaded to forego this unpleasantness… _If_  you bring me the Grail. After all, it is useless to you, isn't it, without your Messiah? And what harm could it do in my hands if I, so graciously, spare Sailor Neptune and do not find our Messiah either? Think about it, Uranus. Neptune's fate is in your hands. I shall await you in the basement of Juban Secondary General Hospital in Room 14B. Goodbye."

"Shit," Haruka breathed. She raised her communication device to her lips, trying once again to call Setsuna. Ever since Michiru's capture she'd been trying to contact her, but it was like the mysterious new senshi had disappeared, swallowed perhaps by the vast universe of Time from which she had so recently emerged.

At last, after several futile beeps, Setsuna answered. "What is it?"

"I need to talk to you," Haruka said briefly. "Can you meet me on the rooftop garden?"

A pause then, "I'll be there."

"Hurry." Haruka's voice almost broke on the word and she snapped the device shut quickly to save herself from further shame. Raising her eyes to the window, she looked out into the night that was not dark and wondered briefly at the bravery, the arrogant foolishness of humans, that they could dare to dream enough to fill these long, empty hours of nothing with the brightness of lights that shone like stars.

This was her duty, what she had chosen to protect, not for the sake of humanity because she wasn't selfless enough for that, but for two wild sea blue eyes and the never expected wonder of a soul that burned as proudly and fiercely as her own. The still astonishing pleasure of falling asleep full and sated to the echoing sound of another's heartbeat.

She'd already been forced to choose once between Michiru and the world and the results of that battle had torn the heart right out of her chest. This time, Haruka vowed, it would be different. This time, she would make sure that Eudial wasn't the one who walked away with nothing more than some damage to her pride. This time, she would stain her hands with blood and she wouldn't regret it.

This late, the rooftop was deserted, and Haruka stood impatiently, ignoring the anxious wind that stirred her hair, the waning rays of moonlight that slid across her skin like weak fingers trying to soothe.

* * *

 Pluto arrived already transformed, landing collected and silent from some impossible series of leaps across the glittering city skyline.

"What is it?" she asked calmly, not even out of breath, her eyes noting Michiru's absence immediately but not speaking of it.

"It's Michiru," said Haruka. She tried to match Pluto's even tone and failed, hearing the tremble in her own voice and wondering if the other soldier would despise her for it. "The enemy has her."

Pluto's garnet eyes widened slightly. "How?" she demanded.

"A group of daimons took her this afternoon. Eudial is behind it. She says if we don't give her the grail she'll force Michiru to have visions one after another until she reveals who the Dark Messiah is. Torture her into madness and death."

When Pluto heard this, something about her demeanour shifted. Haruka couldn't say what it was exactly. She'd seen the tension come into the other woman's body with the news of Michiru's capture, but now, paradoxically, she seemed almost to become relieved as the details emerged. It made Haruka wonder; was this something Pluto had already foreseen? Was this something else that was supposed to happen, another sacrifice of pain required for the future?

"What are you going to do?" asked Pluto, far too calmly in Haruka's opinion.

Haruka met those fathomless eyes with a hard, stormy gaze and the stirring of an angry wind. "Get her back, of course."

"You can't give the Grail to the enemy."

"I didn't say I was going to."

"What are you going to do then?"

"Kill every single one of them," said Haruka softly. "The only question is…Are you going to help me?"

Pluto glanced away evasively and, not quite realising what she was doing, Haruka released a sudden, spiralling tornado that tore through the upper stratosphere, ripping clouds to shreds and scattering the fragments across the sky like confetti.

"Why not?" she demanded.

"Haruka, I can't explain, but this isn't something you need to worry about. Michiru—"

"Michiru could die and you're telling me not to worry?" Haruka laughed disbelievingly. "It's part of our destiny, right? Like what happened at the Marine Cathedral? And you'll just stand back and let it happen because it's all predetermined and already happened as far as you're concerned and I guess any amount of suffering is acceptable as long as you can tick items off on some cosmic list that Michiru and I aren't good enough to know about, though apparently we're certainly good enough to bleed for it."

Her grip tightening on her staff, Pluto at last lost a measure of her unnerving calmness, eyes flashing angrily as she spoke. "Predetermined? Haruka, none of this is predetermined. The last time I was here, everything happened differently. The last time I was here, I had just awakened, like you and Michiru. We developed our abilities and our friendship  _together_. But now, because of what the Death Busters have done, that has all had to change. I've had to come back here, from the future, to try and put things right, but the past as I remember it –  _my_  past – doesn't even exist any more. I'm as lost as anyone in all this."

As she finished, there was a look on Pluto's face that Haruka recognised only too well, of deep, enduring loneliness that went on forever unrelieved. It sparked in the blonde haired senshi a reluctant feeling of sympathy, and she wondered briefly at how perfect Pluto's future could be if it demanded that a soldier give up her entire past just so it might come to be.

"I'm sorry," Haruka said gruffly. "I hadn't thought about how hard this must be for you. But my decision hasn't changed. I'm still going after Michiru."

Pluto smiled slightly. "I know."

"You still won't come?"

"No."

"And you won't tell me why?"

"No."

Despite herself, Haruka felt her lips curving upwards in an exasperated answering smile. "You're very annoying, do you know that?"

"So you've told me before."

"I just hope—" Haruka stopped with a frown, before continuing more slowly. "I hope you're not going to try and stop me. Because—"

"Believe me, Haruka," said Pluto, interrupting. "That is the furthest thought from my mind. I just can't come with you. Not this time. I'll explain it to you one day when I can, I promise."

Haruka blinked hooded eyes at this woman she didn't quite trust, yet couldn't bring herself to entirely mistrust either. "Very well. I'll contact you as soon as the battle is over. Whichever way it goes." Raising her pen, she transformed in a way that was still new to her, yet so very old to the woman who watched, and disappeared across the rooftops with a last backward glance that verged on defiant.

Left alone, Pluto stood gazing up at the stars for a moment, her expression troubled. "If I am right about who has caused these strange events," she murmured, "I had better make sure there is no battle, or the future I was sent here to safeguard will be entirely destroyed, and not even by the efforts of the enemy."

She sighed, vaguely annoyed, and followed stealthily in the angry Uranus's obvious wake.


	5. The Outcome

Haruka went to room 14B prepared for a fight, and was almost put out when she didn't find one. What she did find was the inert form of Michiru, strapped to a narrow hospital bed with her hair falling about her like a waterfall, and she was still, so still, that there was only one possibility Haruka really considered.

It was in a kind of desolate stupor that she approached the bed, not surprised, in a way, at this turn of events. She felt as if she had been waiting for it ever since the Marine Cathedral, as if the few beautiful weeks they had enjoyed together since then were only a dream illegally stolen, conjured perhaps by a brain in denial of the fact that its body was already dying.

"Michiru?" she whispered, reaching out to touch a hand she did not expect to find warm.

She almost yelped and jumped back in shock when Michiru responded with a faint moan and a twitch of her fingers. It was only the most uncertain stirring of life, yet it brought into Haruka's mind the remembrance of Michiru once asking her shortly after they'd met what she considered to be the most sublime expression of poetry. Haruka had avoided the question at the time, still too defensive and not entirely sure Michiru wasn't making fun of her, but she knew what her answer would be now.

Better than any symphony ever written or the greatest epic poem history could offer up; simply knowing that the person she loved most was alive.

"Michiru," Haruka repeated more firmly, new determination colouring her voice, "don't worry, I'm going to get you out of here." She worked quickly to loosen her partner's bonds, and once Michiru was free guided her left arm up over her shoulders whilst placing her own arm securely around Michiru's waist.

Michiru was conscious by this time, but only just. She seemed rather oblivious to the fact that Haruka was trying to move her, and didn't help at all when Haruka tried to hoist her off of the bed. Not expecting a fully dead weight Haruka quickly lost her balance, depositing Michiru back on the mattress while she herself stayed upright only because of a last minute hand braced against the bed frame. Somehow she retained her hold on Michiru's waist, instinctively pulling the other woman closer to her so that her head fell forward onto Haruka's shoulder while her legs dangled over the edge of the unusually elevated frame, not quite touching the floor.

There was a moment of silence. Haruka gathered her strength, determined on her next try to successfully get Michiru up and away even if she had to carry her bodily from the room. Her unprotected back was prickling unpleasantly at the thought of likely immanent attacks, yet she couldn't help but linger for a moment, caught up in a sudden hypersensitive wonder that descended upon her without warning. It was something about the feel of Michiru against her, limbs warm and heavy, breath gusting gently onto Haruka's skin, heart beating in time to the blood Haruka could feel pulsing through her own veins. How many times had Haruka held her like this, as she drifted off to sleep, as she lay drowsing and flushed from their lovemaking, and she couldn't stop it coming, the thing she had been trying not to think of, cold and treacherous like a dagger twisting in her gut,  _I thought I would never touch her like this again_.

It made her eyes smart and her throat swell and she heard once more the echo of Eudial's enraged scream as Michiru staggered towards her, saw the gun fire, watched helplessly as Michiru fell, as Michiru fell, in a dying that lasted forever.

 _Oh God, not now_. Tears had no place on a battlefield, pain no time to be indulged, but still Haruka wavered, choked, knew she was perilously close to giving way, because it was too much to nearly lose Michiru twice like this now, to hold her so close and think of her being torn away with a raw agony that felt like losing one of her own limbs.

"Haruka," Michiru murmured indistinctly.

"What is it?" Haruka asked. Her voice was rough and unsteady.

"Is my violin all right?"

"Your violin?" Her tone shook; Haruka couldn't help it. Not when she remembered Michiru falling beneath the onslaught of monsters in the park, so beautiful, so doomed, but never afraid, no, never afraid. Accepting with the unflinching heart of a solider that her life might end that day and asking for no respite, no heroic tales that would make of her an immortal, only that her one beloved possession be spared to remind those who knew of what had passed.

"Oh Michiru," Haruka whispered, "what a thing to say." And then, not realising what was happening until it was too late to stop, she started to cry. Arms tight around her lover, face buried in her hair, she sobbed so hard her shoulders trembled and her soldier's mantle fell in tatters at her feet.

Eyes flaring wide in surprise and bemusement, Michiru returned her embrace, lips moving as she began to speak softly, words of love and reassurance and gentle chiding that Haruka should think five daimons enough to do away with her. She started as she caught a movement, automatically taking over the task of watching for attack as her foggy senses began to clear, but realised she had only seen herself and Haruka, reflected in a large mirror on the far side of the room she hadn't noticed before.

Uneasily, she wondered why the enemy did not approach and how much longer it would be before either she or Haruka were in any fit state to fight. She did not want to linger here.

* * *

On the other side of the mirror, five soldiers transformed into the semblance of the Witches Five stared open mouthed at the sight before them.

"Haruka-san…is crying," Usagi said slowly, in the same way she might have said, the sky is falling, meaning: this can't be happening.

"We really should be attacking now," said Minako, but even she, who before had insisted so emphatically on the continuation of the plan at Ami's apartment, sounded reluctant.

The others shifted uncomfortably, glancing at each other and then back at two women still so close together, all of them, perhaps, pricked by the uncomfortable feeling they were watching something that was never supposed to be seen. The sight before them was so intimate, so private, that every girl, in her heart, knew she would never want Haruka and Michiru to know they had been observed thus; expressing, at last, the very emotions Usagi and her friends had sought to verify.

"I would strongly advise all of you against attacking."

A new voice spoke, stern and authoritative, and with gasps of surprise the counterfeit Witches turned to find the tall, stately form of Sailor Pluto watching them with a slight frown of displeasure on her ageless face.

"How did you get here?" Usagi asked, her voice imitating the high, girlish tones of her witch Mimete.

Pluto's eyes flickered. "That is not the question to be asking, Usagi. Rather, you should be wondering why I do not unleash my powers on you; how it is that I can see through your disguises when, as I'm sure you remember, Haruka and Michiru could not. And, perhaps, you should be grateful for it, for otherwise we all now would be engaged in a deadly battle."

She was very fierce, and very serious, as she spoke, and it made all of the younger soldiers draw away from her a little. They had intended, yes, that as the grand climax of Ami's plan there would be a battle, but they had unconsciously envisioned it as a play fight only, where there was no real chance of anyone being hurt. Pluto's words jolted all of them out of that fantasy. Friend against friend, soldier against soldier; such a battle would be a mockery of all that the senshi were, and now, each girl felt slightly sick as she imagined it.

Crossing the room, aware of but ignoring the reaction she had caused, Pluto stopped before the observation window and looked down upon the still entwined forms of Haruka and Michiru, an inscrutable expression on her face. "I hope you realise," she continued in a calm voice that was somehow rather terrible, "that you have all been very cruel."

"Cruel!" cried Usagi. "But…We didn't mean to be! We just – we just wanted to know – about Haruka-san, and Michiru-san, and…you."

Pluto turned swiftly, catching all the girls in a glance that made them wince. "And have you discovered what you wanted to know?" she asked acridly. "Is it clear to you, now, that Haruka and Michiru are lovers? Does this knowledge bring you pleasure, even though your tactics, coming hard on the heels of the Marine Cathedral, has been almost more than either of them could bear?"

She fixed Usagi with a particularly harsh gaze. "They are your soldiers, princess. They would do anything for you. Already, they have died for you. And you have repaid their loyalty by torturing them for sport. It is unworthy of you. Of all of you."

Tears gathered in Usagi's eyes. "I didn't think," she said, words wobbling as her warm heart filled with remorse. "It just seemed like game. A – a challenge." She cast her eyes sorrowfully down towards the two soldiers who still lingered in Room 14B. "But you're right. What we've done – what I've done – is terrible. I should go and apologise to them."

"No!" Pluto's sharp voice stopped her. "Don't be fooled by Haruka's grief. It will turn to anger the moment she sees anyone she believes to be an enemy. Anyone whom she believes has done this harm to Michiru. She could quite easily kill you all. And—" she paused significantly. "Her anger will not be made less if you confess your true identities to her. It might well make things worse. To receive such treatment from the enemy is one thing; to receive it from those she considers to be…well, not friends, but potential allies at least, would shatter what little trust she has in you. The breach that resulted might never be healed, and…I cannot even imagine what the consequences of that would be." As she finished, she seemed to be speaking more to herself than those before her, looking inward at some frightening potential future that only she could see.

"But what should we do then?" asked Ami, still disguised as Viluy.

Pluto refocused her attention. "Nothing," she said firmly. "Just let them go. I will think of something to tell them. But you must all promise me you will never reveal the truth of this incident to them. They must always believe the attack originated from the enemy, not from their fellow soldiers."

"All right," said Usagi slowly. "If you really think that best."

"I do," said Pluto. She turned to go, but Ami's, or rather Viluy's, voice stopped her.

"Wait! I don't understand. Haruka and Michiru – they couldn't sense that it was us using our powers. They really thought we were the enemy. But you…You knew. How?"

"My powers have had far longer to develop than any of yours. I can sense things more subtly and deeply. I could feel it when you transformed beyond your normal senshi selves, and I could feel it when you used your powers in those forms. And at the same time, I could feel that Haruka and Michiru were afraid for their lives. I wasn't sure what it meant, but when Haruka came to me with the story of Michiru's kidnapping…I guessed that you had all been playing a very silly game."

"There is still something I would like to know, as the princess." said Usagi. Despite the continuation of Pluto's scolding, she seemed to have regained some of her natural buoyancy. Perhaps because she was so used to being scolded that its effects on her tended to be short lived.

Pluto raised her eyebrows. "Yes?"

"Okay. Haruka-san and Michiru-san are – are lovers. But you – how do you fit in?"

Below them, Haruka and Michiru had at last risen from the hospital bed. Still holding each other, they made slightly erratic progress across the cold concrete floor of the unused room, Michiru weaving slightly on her feet like a drunk. Pluto and the five Inner senshi watched them silently through the mirror.

"They are my family," Pluto said at last. She looked at the soldiers around her. "The way all of you are family. They don't think of me that way yet, of course; they don't remember me, and that…is very hard to bear. But I hope in time we will reforge our bonds. That things will be as they were, in the past, and as they should be, in the future."

She smiled, slightly wistful, remembering memories that now belonged only to her and a reality that no longer quite was, and turned away from the now empty basement that showed no sign of the turmoil it had so recently witnessed.

* * *

It was some hours later that Setsuna knocked, rather nervously, on the door to Haruka and Michiru's apartment.

Footsteps approached. "Who is it?" Haruka's voice asked.

"Setsuna. May I come in?"

After a moment, the door opened. "There's a buzzer located outside the building," Haruka pointed out, her tone not quite friendly. "That is normally how guests announce their presence."

"I came via the roof," said Setsuna lightly. "I didn't think you'd be in the mood for answering the buzzer. Now, may I come in?"

Narrowing her eyes as she considered, Haruka at last nodded and stepped back from the door, allowing Setsuna to enter.

"Coffee?" Haruka asked as Setsuna removed her shoes. Her eyes were still guarded.

Setsuna considered, her eyes drifting towards the elaborate coffee maker that sat in the kitchen. With that thing on, she would never have Haruka's full attention, which might well be why Haruka had suggested it. "No thank you," she said politely. "But I would like some tea."

Haruka didn't invite her to sit down, but Setsuna perched herself anyway on one of the high bar stools located next to the kitchen bench. "How's Michiru?" she asked.

"Sleeping," said Haruka shortly, her face and expression blank as she made the tea.

"Was she hurt at all?"

"She wasn't tortured, if that's what you mean."

Containing her annoyance at Haruka's stubborn insistence on not understanding her, Setsuna pointed out, "not being tortured doesn't amount to not being hurt."

Silence stretched between them. Haruka stared at the teapot with its brewing tea as if it had offended her. Setsuna looked at Haruka. At last, the words dragging reluctantly, Haruka said, "she doesn't remember much. She was sedated most of the time. A few bumps and bruises, a lot of weariness. She's endured worse injury than that. We both have."

"And how is she doing emotionally?"

Setsuna could tell that Haruka was slightly affronted by the question, but she answered it nevertheless, her lips twisted into a slightly sardonic smile. "Michiru says that my emotional state is probably worse than hers right now. After all, she was unconscious most of the time. I was the one who had to worry about what might be happening to her."

By this time, the tea was ready. Haruka placed the pot on the bench near Setsuna's elbow along with two small cups and walked around the bar to take her own stool. She chose to sit one seat over from Setsuna, leaving the empty stool between them like a barrier.

Setsuna poured the tea. Haruka watched her.

"So," Haruka said after they had both taken several distracted sips of tea, "are you going to tell me what you know? Clearly you do know something about this situation. About why the enemy behaved so strangely."

Already Setsuna had considered this; what she could tell Haruka that would not be the truth but not entirely untrue either. She didn't want to lie, but she knew this Haruka wasn't ready to understand the misguided motives of a bunch of girls trying to be her friend. This Haruka knew only a world full of potential enemies, and all actions were judged in that light. Setsuna could try to explain to her, but she knew it wouldn't do any good. Haruka's heart wasn't ready, yet, to believe in anyone other than one particular aqua haired woman.

And so, Setsuna prepared to tell Haruka the story of how it could have been, even though it wasn't, starting with a fact that would anchor the embellishments to reality. "Eudial is dead," she said.

Haruka's eyes widened. "How? Did you fight her?"

"No, Mimete murdered her." And it was true. The car going over the cliff; Haruka didn't need to know when it happened, or that the timing meant Eudial couldn't have possibly been behind Michiru's capture. Feeling the Inner senshi shape shifting, combined with Haruka's story of the dead witch's voice on her answer machine, had been the final clue that suggested to Setsuna what the apparent kidnapping was really all about.

Meanwhile, Haruka had grown contemplative. "I see. So Eudial conceived of the plan to capture Michiru, got the daimons to take her, imprisoned her in that hospital, and then, before she could do anything more, Mimete killed her. And I suppose if she didn't tell her plan to anyone, no one else would have known Michiru was there. And that is why no enemy came."

"Yes," said Setsuna. "It's a reasonable assumption." Which was true, it was a reasonable assumption, it just wasn't correct.

"Did you suspect some of this when we met on the roof?" asked Haruka. "Is that why you didn't want me to go after Michiru right away – you wanted to confirm the status of the enemy?"

"I didn't want there to be any unnecessary fighting," said Setsuna, which was again, the truth.

Haruka smiled, but this time there was a hint of real warmth in it. "You're as cryptic as ever, I see."

Setsuna returned the smile, ruefully. "I'm sorry. I've really told you all I can."

After a considered pause, Haruka nodded. "All right." It still wasn't trust, but it was, at least, the willingness to consider that Setsuna might be someone she could come to trust in the future.

"You know," said Setsuna, noting the exhausted way Haruka's eyes kept trying to drift closed, against her will, "you look like you could do with some sleep too. Why don't you—"

"No," said Haruka, shaking her head, "I'd rather keep watch."

Unspoken was the reason. Michiru had been taken once because Haruka wasn't sufficiently watchful, and she wasn't about to let it happen again.

"It's all right," said Setsuna. "You sleep. I'll watch."

"Are you sure?" There was an edge of surprise in Haruka's voice.

"Of course."

Haruka hesitated, and Setsuna remembered another Haruka hesitating a long time ago, in a difference place, a different situation, but with the same ultimate choice before her, the same possibilities branching out towards the future.

The future that she, Setsuna, was supposed to save.

"There's beer in the fridge."

"What?" said Setsuna blankly.

"There's beer," Haruka repeated. "In the fridge. In case you get thirsty. And takeaway menus in the top drawer. I wouldn't trust any food you find in the house; Michiru and I haven't had the chance to go shopping for weeks."

"Um…okay."

"I'll see you in a few hours."

"A few hours," Setsuna agreed, her head still spinning a little at Haruka's sudden acceptance of her. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Haruka waved at her before disappearing into what was presumably the bedroom she shared with Michiru.

Left alone in the suddenly quiet apartment, Setsuna blinked. Then she smiled. For the first time since her arrival in this reality, she wasn't sorry she had had to come. She wandered over to a sofa in the living room and picked up a magazine, idly flicking through it. Outside the day was hot and sunny. All day she watched at the apartment. Nothing happened. It was wonderful.


End file.
